Some foods practically tell you when to throw them out - they stink, they are covered in mold, or they change colors. This is not the case with peanut butter.
Peanut butter seldom molds because despite feeling wet and greasy, it is actually extremely dry. Peanut butter separates, but that just means it's time to shake it up.
Your peanut butter can, however, become rancid after 9-12 months of sitting around. Among many other facts, Live Science tells us that rancid peanut butter actually won't hurt you if you eat it. It just tastes bad.
In short, if your peanut butter tastes bad, dump it. Otherwise, you can worry about your strange taste buds but you don't need to worry about getting sick.
We once had a jar of peanut butter for over 5 years. We didn't eat from it, but we coated our dog's medicine with it so that he would eat it. Scruffles didn't have any problem with the taste.
What's the longest you've had a jar of peanut butter?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-10-2008 @ 11:16AM
Steve said...
A jar of peanut butter doesn't last more than a month at my house, so we will never have rancid peanut butter.
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4-10-2008 @ 5:01PM
SaraFist said...
Peanut butter's never lasted longer than two months in any house I've lived in.
Reply
4-10-2008 @ 9:33PM
dragonet2 said...
Even the two big jars we buy at Costco seldom last six months. The fact that sometmes when we're in a hurry a piece of whole grain bread with peanut butter is a fairly nutritious breakfast helps.
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5-17-2008 @ 3:35AM
Jesse said...
Yeah, I agree with Steve, peanut butter doesnt have a chance to go bad in my house. I will put it on anything, will even eat spoonfulls straight out of the jar. Peanut butter, grape jelly and honey is one of my all time fave foods. Make a peanut butter pie thats to die for too.
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5-27-2008 @ 2:54PM
Jim K said...
When I was in summer camp as a kid - long, long ago - we had those super-sized jars of government issued peanut butter on the dining hall tables. This was a hot summer camp with kids smearing peanut butter all over everything. I'm not sure, but I think the jars had American flags with 30 stars on them.
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